Poet, born into extreme poverty in the West Bengali village of Churulia. He rose to fame in the 1920s as a poet and leader of the anti-British movement in India with his poem The Rebel. He also published a bimonthly radical magazine, Dhumketu (The Comet), which was virulently revolutionary and anti-British in tone, and spent 40 days on hunger-strike in jail. In the 1930s he concentrated more on composing music and songs, and became an actor and radio personality. In 1942 he contracted a brain disease that bereft him of his faculties, including his speech. After the partition, which he had always opposed, he lived in penury until he was brought home in honour to the newly independent state of Bangladesh, and installed as the national poet. A Muslim, he married a Hindu, and was a lifelong advocate of MuslimHindu unity. He wrote over 500 devotional Hindu songs.
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South Asia Modern era |
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| Name: | Kazi Nazrul Islam |
| Birth: | May 25, 1899 |
| Death: | August 29, 1976 |
| School/tradition: | Bengal Renaissance |
| Main interests: | poetry, music, politics, society |
| Influences: | Shaktism; Culture of Bangladesh |
Kazi Nazrul Islam (Bengali: কাজী নজরুল ইসলাম) (May 25, 1899 — August 29, 1976) was a Bengali poet and composer best known as the Bidrohi Kobi ("Rebel Poet").
Nazrul made his mark as a revolutionary poet through poems such as Vidrohi ("Rebel") and Bhangar Gan ("The Song of Destruction"). Nazrul's writings explored themes such as love, freedom, and revolution;
He wrote short stories, novels and essays, but is best known for his poems, in which he pioneered new forms such as Bengali ghazals. Nazrul wrote and composed music for his nearly 3000 songs, which constitute the body known as Nazrul Sangeet (Nazrul songs) widely popular today. Around the age of 44, Nazrul began losing his voice and memory, possibly due to undiagnosed neurosyphilis. Nazrul progressively lost his mind and lived the last thirty years of his life mostly in the dark.
Early life
Kazi Nazrul Islam was born in the village of Churulia in the Burdwan District in the province of Bengal (now located in the Indian state of West Bengal). Second of three sons and a daughter, Nazrul's father, Kazi Fakir Ahmed was the imam and caretaker of the local mosque and mausoleum. Nicknamed Dukhu Mia ("Sad Man"), Nazrul began attending the maktab — the local religious school run by the mosque — where he studied the Qur'an and other scripture, Islamic philosophy and theology. At the young age of ten, Nazrul began working in his father's place as a caretaker to support his family, as well as assisting teachers in school.
Attracted to folk theatre, Nazrul joined a leto (travelling theatrical group) run by his uncle Bazle Karim. Working and travelling with them, learning acting, as well as writing songs and poems for the plays and musicals. Through his work and experiences, Nazrul began learning Bengali and Sanskrit literature, as well as Hindu scriptures such as the Puranas.
In 1910, Nazrul left the troupe and enrolled at the Raniganj Searsole Raj School, and later transferred to the Mathrun High English School, studying under the headmaster and poet Kumudranjan Mallik. Unable to continue paying his school fees, Nazrul left the school and joined a group of “kaviyals”. In 1914, Nazrul joined the Darirampur School in Trishal, Mymensingh District. Amongst other subjects, Nazrul studied Bengali, Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian literature and classical music under teachers who were impressed by his dedication and skill.
Studying up to Class X, Nazrul did not to appear for the matriculation pre-test examination, enlisting instead in the Indian Army in 1917. Some historians have conjectured that Nazrul's may have wished to obtain military training with the aim of using it later for pursuing Indian independence. During this period, Nazrul read extensively, and was deeply influenced by Rabindranath Tagore and Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, as well as the Persian poet Hafiz.
Rebel poet
Nazrul left the army in 1920 and settled in Kolkata, which was then the Cultural capital of India (it had ceased to be the political capital in 1911).
Working at the literary society, Nazrul grew close to a rising generation of Muslim writers including Mohammad Mozammel Haq, Afzalul Haq, Kazi Abdul Wadud and Muhammad Shahidullah. In October 1921, Nazrul went to Santiniketan with Muhammad Shahidullah and met Rabindranath Tagore. Despite many differences, Nazrul looked to Tagore as a mentor and the two remained in close association. In 1921, Nazrul was engaged to be married to Nargis, the niece of a well-known Muslim publisher Ali Akbar Khan, in Daulatpur, Comilla. But on June 18, 1921 — the day of the wedding — Nazrul suddenly left the place without explanation.
Nazrul catapulted to fame with the publication of "Bidrohi" in 1922, which remains his most famous work. Nazrul won admiration of India's literary classes by his description of the rebel whose impact is fierce and ruthless even as its spirit is deep:
I am the unutterable grief,
I am the trembling first touch of the virgin,
I am the throbbing tenderness of her first stolen kiss.
I am the fleeting glace of the veiled beloved,
I am her constant surreptitious gaze...
... “(Last stanza)”
(English translation by Kabir Choudhary)
Published in the "Bijli" magazine, the poem caused a popular sensation. Nazrul stormed into Tagore's residence, jokingly declaring "Gurudev, I have come to kill you off." Nazrul explores a synthesis of different forces in a rebel, destroyer and preserver, expressing rage as well as beauty and sensitivity. Nazrul followed up by writing "Pralayollas" ("Destructive Euphoria"), and his first anthology of poems, the "Agniveena" ("Lyre of Fire") in 1922, which enjoyed astounding and far-reaching successs.
Revolutionary
Nazrul started a bi-weekly magazine, publishing the first "Dhumketu" on August 12, 1922. Earning the moniker of the "rebel poet”, Nazrul also aroused the suspicion of British authorities. Arrested, Nazrul entered a lengthy plea before the judge in the court.
"I have been accused of sedition.
On April 14, 1923 he was transferred from the jail in Alipore to Hooghly in Kolkata, he began a 40-day fast to protest mistreatment by the British jail superintendent. Nazrul broke his fast more than a month later and was eventually released from prison in December 1923. Nazrul composed a large number of poems and songs during the period of imprisonment and many his works were banned in the 1920s by the British authorities.
Kazi Nazrul Islam became a critic of the Khilafat struggle, condemning it as hollow, religious fundamentalism even as thousands of Muslims agitated for it. Nazrul's rebellious expression extended to Islam. Nazrul also criticised the Indian National Congress for not embracing outright political independence from the British Empire. Nazrul also helped organise the Sramik Praja Swaraj Dal, a political party committed to national independence and the service of the peasant masses. On December 16, 1925 Nazrul started publishing the weekly "Langal”, with himself as chief editor.
It was during his visit to Comilla in 1921, that Nazrul met a young Hindu woman, Pramila Devi. Nazrul in turn was condemned by Muslim religious leaders and continued to face criticism for his personal life and professional works. As a result, Nazrul's works began intensely attacking social and religious dogma and intolerance. Nazrul came to identify the spirit of his thoughts and works as inherently rebellious:
Weary of struggles, I, the great rebel, Shall rest in quiet only when I find The sky and the air free of the piteous groans of the oppressed."Mass music"
With his wife and young son Bulbul, Nazrul settled in Krishnanagar in 1926. Nazrul assailed the socio-economic norms and political system that had brought upon misery. The songs of Nazrul giving voice to the aspirations of the masses have come to known as "mass music".
In what his contemporaries regarded as one of his greatest flairs of creativity, Nazrul began composing the very first ghazals in Bengali, transforming a form of poetry written mainly in Persian and Urdu. Arousing controversy and passions in his readers, Nazrul's ideas attained great popularity across India. In 1928, Nazrul began working as a lyricist, composer and music director for His Master's Voice Gramophone Company.
Nazrul professed faith in the belief in the absolute equality of women — a view his contemporaries considered revolutionary. In his poem "Naree" ("Women"), Nazrul repudiates what he sees as the long-standing oppression of women, proclaiming their equality:
"Whatever great or benevolent achievements That are in this world Half of that was by woman The other half by man."
However, most of his descriptions of women do not exceed beyond homely roles. His poetry retains long-standing notions of men and women in binary opposition to one another and does not affirm gender similarities and flexibility in the social structure:
"Man has brought the burning, scorching heat of the sunny day;
However, Nazrul's poems strongly emphasise the confluence of the roles of both sexes and their equal importance to life. Nazrul expresses no hesitation in accepting the prostitute as a human being. However, Nazrul's emphasis does not exceed the basic roles of women in society. Nazrul explores a woman's feelings in one of his most popular songs, "Mour Ghumghore Key Elay Monohour" ("Who is the beauty that traverses my dream?"), at her separation from her husband. While vivid in his account of the woman's torment, Nazrul has been criticised in modern times for not exploring the possibility that a woman's life may reach beyond wifely duties. Nazrul elucidates the feelings of an "ideal woman", devoted to her husband and explores the imagination of men in their idealisation of a woman.
Exploring religion
Nazrul's mother died in 1928, and his son Bulbul died of smallpox the following year. His wife gave birth to two more sons — Savyasachi in 1928 and Aniruddha in 1931 — but Nazrul remained shaken and aggrieved for a long time. His works in these years led Islamic devotional songs into the mainstream of Bengali folk music, exploring the Islamic practices of namaz (prayer), roza (fasting), hajj (pilgrimmage) and zakat (charity). Nazrul's creativity diversified as he explored Hindu devotional music by composing bhajans and kirtans, often merging Islamic and Hindu values. Nazrul's poetry and songs explored the philosophy of Islam and Hinduism.
"Let people of all countries and all times come together.
Nazrul is considered to have been one of the most brilliant exponents of Shaktism, a form of Hinduism widely practised in Bengal and Assam. Nazrul's poetry imbibed the passion and creativity of Shakti, which is identified as the Brahman, the personification of primordial energy. For many contemporary critics, Nazrul's works also reflect the universalism of the teachings of sages Kabir and Guru Nanak as well as the syncretism of Mughal emperor Akbar's Din-i-Illahi school.
"Open your heart — within you dwell all the religions.
Nazrul assailed fanaticism in religion, denouncing it as evil and inherently irreligious. Nazrul has been compared to William Butler Yeats for being the first Muslim poet to create imagery and symbolism of Muslim historical figures such as Qasim, Ali, Umar, Kamal Pasha, Anwar Pasha and the prophet Muhammad.
Later career
In 1933, Nazrul published a collection of essays titled "Modern World Literature", in which he analyses different styles and themes of literature. Nazrul identifies two main literary trends — the first demonstrates passionate devotion to Earth with the exploration of the home environment of human beings; From the time of his return to Kolkata until he fell ill in 1941, Nazrul composed more than 2,600 songs, many of which have been lost.
Nazrul's success soon brought him into Indian theatre and the nascent film industry. Nazrul acted in the role of Narada and directed the film. The film Vidyapati (Master of Knowledge) was produced based on his recorded play in 1936, and Nazrul served as the music director for the film adaptation of Tagore's novel Gora. Nazrul wrote songs and directed music for Sachin Sengupta's bioepic play Siraj-ud-Daula. In 1939, Nazrul began working for Calcutta Radio, supervising the production and broadcasting of the station's musical programmes. Nazrul also wrote a large variety of songs inspired by the raga Bhairav. In these final years of activity, Nazrul worked with determination. While enjoying commercial success, Nazrul sought to preserve his artistic integirty by condemning the adaptation of his songs to music composed by others, insisting on the use of tunes he composed himself.
Illness and later life
Nazrul's wife Pramila Devi fell seriously ill in 1939 and was paralysed from waist down. Nazrul also was shaken by the death of Rabindranath Tagore on August 8, 1941. Within months, Nazrul himself fell seriously ill and gradually began losing his power of speech. Embittered by the sudden loss of his active life, Nazrul wrote in a letter to his friend Zulfikar Haider on July 17, 1942:
"... Yours, Nazrul."
In spite of her own predicament his wife constantly cared for her husband. However, Nazrul's health seriously deteriorated and he grew increasingly depressed. It is believed that Nazrul was most likely suffering from neurosyphilis, which was not diagnosed at the time. Spending four months there without making progress, Nazrul and his family began living a silent life in India. With the efforts of a large group of admirers who called themselves the "Nazrul Treatment Society" as well as prominent supporters such as the Indian politician Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the poet travelled to London for treatment. His condition judged to be incurable, Nazrul returned to India in December 1953.
On June 30, 1962 his wife Pramila died. Nazrul remained in intensive medical care. In 1972, the newly independent nation of Bangladesh obtained permission from the Government of India to bring Nazrul to live in Dhaka and made him a citizen of the new nation. Despite receiving treatment and attention, Nazrul's physical and mental health did not improve. In 1974, his youngest son, Anirudda died, and Nazrul soon succumbed to his long-standing ailments on August 29, 1976.
Criticism and legacy
While his career was active, Nazrul received intense criticism from religious Muslims for his assimilation of Hindu philosophy and culture with Islam in his works and for openly denouncing many Islamic teachings. While hailed for his sincere conviction in the liberation of women, Nazrul's poems did not explore the independence of a woman's mind and the ability to perform diverse roles in society.
Nazrul's poetry is characterised by an abundant use of rhetorical devices, which he employs to convey conviction and sensousness. Nazrul's poetry is regarded as rugged but unique in comparison to his contemporary Rabindranath Tagore's sophisticated style. Nazrul's use of Persian vocabulary was controversial but it widened the scope of his work. Nazrul's works for children have won acclaim for his use of rich language, imagination, enthusiasm and an ability to fascinate young readers.
Kazi Nazrul Islam is acknowledged as one of the greatest Bengali poets of all time. Nazrul was awarded the Jagattarini Gold Medal in 1945 — the highest honour for work in Bengali literature by the University of Calcutta — and awarded the Padma Bhushan, one of India's highest civilian honours in 1960. The Nazrul Endowment is one of several scholarly institutions established to preserve and expound upon his thoughts and philosophy, as well as the preservation and analysis of the large and diverse collection of his works. The Bangladesh Nazrul Sena is a large public organisation working for the education of children throughout the country. Nazrul's numerous works remain widely popular with the public of India and Bangladesh.
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